Sunday February 12, 2023 | 6:29 p.m.
During the first week of February, the rise in the price of food and beverages slowed down compared to the previous week, as the rate of increase dropped from 2.7% to 1.8% per week. However, the food and beverage index presented monthly inflation of an average of 6% in the last four weeks, according to the LCG consultancy.
In the first week of launching the relaunch of the Fair Price Program, where the increase guideline will be 3.2% per month and also consists of a basket of around 2,000 products at a fixed price, the rate of increase and the number of rebranded products will be rolled back.
The supermarkets assured that between Thursday and Friday of this week they would finish updating and implementing the new price lists validated with Commerce in all the mouths of mass consumption, so the survey next week is expected to show signs of getting closer to the established pattern.
According to the weekly survey of the consultancy, the impact of the sustained increase in meat is what continues to push the index up. Together with fruits and oil, they were the three items with the highest increase in the week. But, without a doubt, the incidence of meat within the index is the one with the greatest preponderance, adding 1.12% of the total 1.8% weekly increase.
The variation in the price of meat in the study period was 3.6%. Fruits with 4.1% and oils with 3.2% completed the increase above the general average.
A survey carried out by the Mediterranean Foundation in the first week of February showed that the price per kilo of meat was $2,267, an increase of 27.3% compared to the third week of January. Members of the sector warn that price increases will continue in the coming months around 40%.
On the other hand, this week there was a smaller number of products with an increase compared to the previous ones, decreasing by 16 percentage points and standing at 28% of the total basket. In this way, the average of the last four weeks is established at 25%, which indicates that in one month all the products in the basket would present at least one price increase.
On Tuesday, February 14, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) will release the inflation rate for January, from which it is already discounted that it will mark an increase compared to December and would be between 5.5% and 6% according to they estimate from the Treasury. On the other hand, private consultants place it between 6% and 6.5%.
The consultancy C&T measured it at 6.4%, while the Fundación Libertad y Progreso estimated it at 6.3%. Meanwhile, CREEBA, which focuses on price developments in the southern zone of the province of Buenos Aires, calculated it at 6.5%. And finally, in what was the first official rate of the year, the City of Buenos Aires reported inflation of 7.3%, the highest since last July.
